After Abysmal Voter Turnout In Mumbai, Markets Trade In Red

The Indian indices opened to trade after a gap of a day, as the markets were shut on May 20 on account of voting in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. This exercise was part of phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections in India. The provisional numbers that are currently emerging for the six constituencies in Mumbai are disillusioning.

Mumbai Records Low Turnout, Yet Again

Keeping up with the collective habit and trend, most of the city did not show up at the polling booth.

The markets also appear to have woken up to the same lull that the city exhibited in the polling booths yesterday.

The BSE Sensex was trading in red on Tuesday, May 21, at 10:38 IST, the index had lost 211.99 points or 0.29 per cent, taking the numbers to 73,793.95 points. Simiarly, the NSE Nifty also slumped in the early hours of the day, post voting day. Nifty slumped to 22,468.05, after losing 33.95 points or 0.15 per cent. In addition, Nifty Bank also dropped by 160.15 points or 0.33 per cent to decline to 48,039.35.

Mumbai, according to reports, reported a polling percentage of 47.5 per cent voting till 5 pm.

The richest state of the country, Maharashtra, recorded polling of 50.3 per cent until 21:00 hrs.

Uncertanity Sends Jitters

These developments take us back to the concerns indicated by the markets after the first three phases of the elections, when the voter turnout dropped, resulting in uncertainty over government formation in the centre. Back then, the markets bled, resulting in decline in the prospects of the market.

This even forced many from the ruling establishment, including, the Home Minister, Amit Shah to assuage markets, dismissing the possibility of any uncertainty.

Amongst the American indices, Dow Jones ended the proceedings on May 20 at 39,806.77, posting a decline of 0.49 per cent . Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the day with positive numbers, as S&P gained 0.092 per cent to close at 5,308.13. Nasdaq gained 0.65 per cent to close at 16,794.88.